The Victoria International Arts Festival started on Wednesday, the 10th of June 2009, with the St James Consort, a thirteen-piece string ensemble led by Sarah Spiteri, the Victoria International Arts Festival 2009 is set to awe and enthrall.

For five weeks (10 June-13 July 2009) Victoria rightfully becomes the music capital of Malta, joining the festival cities of the world, with artists and ensembles from all over Europe, combining to leave their mark in the soul of the island. And what a mark! That is precisely what the Festival in the heart of Victoria, blending drive, professional ethos and the typical Gozo penchant for laid back charm, has come to signify for an ever-widening network of patrons and admirers hailing from top music centres in Europe down to the cultural minded visitor, who once bitten, immediately sheds off his initial shyness and comes back for more!

This year marks the 12th edition of the Festival with a jam-packed programme of events, designed to meet the most demanding of refined tastes, varying from the classical to the contemporary, and with a dash of drama as well!

Top of the range performers from the UK, Italy, France, Norway, Holland, Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria, and Syria, together with some of the finest from the local milieu, will make sure that the sterling reputation which the Festival has earned throughout the years, will continue to grow in no uncertain terms.

This year’s edition is a step further in the implementation of the organisers’ objective of promoting unity through the diversity of cultural backgrounds and of exposing local music lovers and students to top class music-making, as well as giving them the opportunity interact with the visiting professionals through master classes and concerts. For the first time this year, a seminar for piano teachers will be conducted by the well-established Fransina Abela on 2 and 3 July. Masterclasses in violin (lower/superior grades); piano accompaniment, and clarinet are being conducted by foreign and local tutors.

Innovation is a golden thread which runs through the multi-splendor fabric of the Festival. No fewer than thirty concerts, featuring soloists, duos, chamber ensembles, choral ensembles, bands, ballet and the National Philharmonic Orchestra will offer as wide a spectrum of musical idioms as possible, enabling patrons and local musicians to embark upon a journey of discovery resulting in an enriching and ennobling experience.

One cannot really point out a highlight of the Festival, replete as it is with top class musicians in their respective fields. Among these feature for the first time in the Festival, Austrian organist Wolfgang Kogert (Saturday 13 June), the regular organist of the celebrated Vienna Boys’ Choir, among other professional engagements, and Russian dramatic soprano Lyudmila Volozhynka (Friday 19 June), in a recital of choice Russian and Italian opera, and concert pianist Paolo Vergari (Sunday 21 June), who has performed in the major concert venues all over the globe.

Another event which will surely go down very well with the patrons will be the Evening of Dance, (Alison White troupe) on Friday 26 June at Independence Square. Ms White will be presenting an exciting and heady mix of various genres of dance. One could also mention the Monday 13 July concluding concert in the basilica, which sees the participation of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, world class cellist Daniel Veis, renowned organist Scott Farrell, the Laudate Pueri choir under the direction of Prof. Joseph Vella, in works of Fauré and Vella.

Local talent is being promoted in various ways, not least by the Composer Speaks Series/Debutants Concert on Monday 15 June. This year pianist and composer Veronique Vella, a graduate from Napier University, Scotland, will be presenting her compositions, and a selected group of highly talented and technically gifted young musicians will be performing on their respective instruments. It is worthwhile to note that up and coming musicians who made their debut in one of the evenings of the Festival, have now made a very good name for themselves abroad.

The Festival is rightly proud to have been the launching pad for these brilliant musicians on the international scene. An evening of drama featuring Gozo Creative Theatre Club presenting Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie at the Cittadella Centre for Arts, Culture and Crafts on Tuesday 30 June is adding a new dimension to the Festival, as art critic and historian Mark Sagona’s presentation of the works of art which are housed in St George’s basilica on Tuesday 16 June, will do.

The church said that writing in The Times, way back in July 17, 2002, Prof. Maurice N. Cauchi had stated that, the Festival “has all the signs of making a significant impact on the cultural life of Gozo at a time when most people are getting ready to take off their shirt and relax on the beach.” Prof. Cauchi’s judgment could hardly have been truer. The Festival has made an impact in more ways than one. Excellence, refinement and beauty are a winning formula indeed designed to grip, involve and enthrall! Patrons have to expect as much from the Festival, and that is what they have been getting and that is what they are going to get. And for free! That is saying something in the prevailing global far from rosy economic situation! Concerts start at 20.00hrs.

The Festival organisers acknowledge the contributions of various sponsors from the public and private sectors, without whose support Gozo would lose one of its major tourist attractions. In fact, the Festival has helped in no small way to earn for Gozo the high reputation of a cultural destination of the first order in a season which is normally associated with the sun, sand and sea.

Acknowledgement is due to St George’s Basilica, Ministry for Gozo, Ministry of Education and Culture, Good Causes Fund – Ministry of Finance, MTA, MCCA, Bank of Valletta, Air Malta, Sliema Lions Club Arts Foundation, Victoria Local Council, Gozo School of Music, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart convent and San Andrea Hotel.

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